Karaoke Forums

I’ve been considering expanding my Karaoke collection with custom CDs (you pick tracks online and they send you a CD) or downloads.  My current collection is all pre-made discs.

The custom CDs are pricey, around $4-5 per song.  Downloads are around $1 each, but I would need to buy some software for burning to disc.

My biggest concern is sound quality.  If typical sound quality/compression is similar to standard music downloads (128 kbps), I would not be satisfied with the custom CD or download.  I would guess that the companies that do the custom CDs are using mp3s or some other compressed format to store their music files.

Does anyone have a reco for high quality custom CDs and downloads?  And, does anyone know if custom CDs would have better sound quality than downloads?  

I sent an email to http://www.ab-cds.com asking them about the source file format/compression for their custom CDs, but have not received a reply yet.

the downloads can be quite risky... you never do know when you'll find a legit site.

As for the custom discs, I believe in them whole-heartedly... IF you have specific songs you want, and don't want to buy discs with other filler.

The $4-5 a song isn't really that expensive, WHEN you compare what it would cost to get the same songs on regular pressed discs from the manus.

HOWEVER, the discs are burns, and they are delicate... so they don't handle the wear and tear of standard pressed discs.

I like the soundchoice custom site, mycdg.com, singtotheworld, sbikaraoke, etc... all great ones.

proburn is a great site as well.

Knightshow, thanks for the info.  I'll check out those other custom CD sites.

Have you been pleased with the sound quality of these discs?  Any noticeable compression artifacts?

I get my downloads from tricerasoft.com which I consider one if the only legitamit download sites.
Every track that I have gotten from them has been of good quality but it does depend on what brand it is.  Songs made by Zoom is always gonna sound better than Music Maestro.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

the ones from the custom disc sites aren't usually from the downloads... so I've never ran into a sound issue with any of them.

Ironically, then I convert them to .mp3g files.

I have never done a download, but I just purchased my first custom CD not that long ago.  It was through Priddis.  I got the custom disc to replace the original discs I bought a couple years ago.  For some reason, the original discs I purchased were pretty poor quality.  I took EXCELLENT care of them, but they began skipping very quickly.  I copied them over to new discs, but still had skipping problems.  

When I decided to replace them, the discs were no longer available.  The tracks I wanted were available scattered on some other discs, or individually on a custom disc.

The custom disc quality is BETTER than the original discs.  The disc seems to be a better quality, and I have not had a single problem.  The sound quality is GREAT.  I have no complaints.

On a side note, when I purchased the original discs, they did not have the lyric graphic available (the publisher wouldn't release the rights), but, when I purchased the custom disc - even though I'm pretty sure it said the lyric graphics weren't available - it has the lyric graphics.  Not that big a deal since they're all songs I know inside and out, but...I thought it was pretty interesting.

I don't know about other companies, but I am VERY happy with the quality I got from Priddis.

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"I hold the key to an open door....will I ever be free...?"

Just a sidebar about  MYCDG.COM , it's a great custom cdg site, i.ve purchased over 20 custom discs from them at $20 for 15 songs including shipping under the Sunfly label , which is also the Legends label but they don't tell you that if you do not know it . so most likely you will get a mix of songs from each label, Also Sunfly makes alot of songs nobody else does although the renditions vary greatly in quality.

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Man Must Know His Limitations -Clint Eastwood

I’ve playing around on mycdg.com and plan to order a couple discs.

Here are some of the things I’ve learned about mycdg.com.

1) They used uncompressed source files.  I called them to confirm this.
2) You can’t mix labels/manufacturers on a disc, which means that you may need to create more than 1 custom CD to get the songs you want.
3) You can put 15 songs max on a disc.
4) They carry 3 labels/manufacturers.  The lease expensive one is Sunfly.  From the songs I sampled, Sunfly has the least consistency to the original artist, and the musicianship/arrangement is highly variable.  Some of the songs sound fine (close enough to the original), but some sound way off and hokey (like when a sax is poorly represented by a synthesizer).
5) They are running a $20/disc deal on Sunfly songs.  This is a tremendous deal.  You just need to be careful and sample the songs to determine if they’re acceptable.
6) They are also running a $3/song deal on the Chartbuster label, which is one of the higher quality labels.

I plan to make 1-2 of the $20 Sunfly discs and 1 Chartbuster disc.

Tommie, I just read your post and we have similar observations regarding Sunfly quality.

Thought I’d report back on mycdg.com.

The 3 discs I ordered were shipped the day after I ordered.  They look “professional”, with printed jackets and disc labels.  Sound quality is also very good.  Overall, I’m pleased will likely order from them again.

Only minor quibble is that the original artist in not on the jackets or labels, just the song title (which is sometimes cut short).

I think that's kinda standard. with all the ones I have from STTW, SBI and mycdg, I don't have an artist on the label.

So when I convert them to .mp3+g, I'm hand typing them, from the disc ORDER pages I kept!

Karaoke.com is having a sale at the moment on the Priddis ProBurn custom disks.  I'm glad to hear that the quality is good. I think I'll browse through the tracks and see what they have.

The nice thing about the Proburn Custom cdgs from www.karaoke.com is that you can mix & match songs from the different companies they provide.

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Man Must Know His Limitations -Clint Eastwood